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Friday, 2 December 2016

PIL: Smart City unconstitutional?

A division bench of Justice PK
Jaiswal and Justice DK Paliwal while accepting an interlocutory application
directed the government to file a reply to the application within two weeks.

INDORE: Questions on the constitutionality
of thesmart cityproject were raised before the Indore
bench ofMadhya Pradeshhigh court on Friday, when the PIL
challenging the smart city plan was heard.

A division bench of Justice PK Jaiswal and Justice
DK Paliwal while accepting an interlocutory application directed the government
to file a reply to the application within two weeks.

Abhinav Dhanotkar, counsel for petitioner Tapan
Bhattacharya told TOI that the application sought answers on whether the smart
city plan was in accordance with Article 77 of the constitution or not.

Article 77 of the constitution states that any
scheme or project announced by the cabinet or minister of urban development or
even the prime minister cannot be the decision of the central government unless
authenticated by an officer authorized by Business rules of Government of India.

"The identity of the person who authenticated
the cabinet decision is also not clear and neither is the date when the
decision was authenticated," Dhanotkar submitted.